Albania denies police assisting in human trafficking to Britain

TIRANA, May 2 – The Albanian Interior Ministry denied that authorities
had assisted in the illegal trafficking of women who were sent
as prostitutes to Britain.
A ministry statement denied reports by a British parliamentary committee,
based on data from the Poppy Project, a non-governmental organization,
alleging “Albanian law enforcement is involved in trafficking
women to the United Kingdom or have tolerated such a phenomenon.”
Albanian police said, contrary to the accusation, that cooperation
between police forces in the two countries has reached a historic level in
the fight against human trafficking, adding that the British police have
maintained a contact officer in Tirana for some years.
The statement rejected as absurd the claim that some 30,000 Albanian
women have been smuggled into Britain.